SmokyBeast: Four Roses

Four Roses

Showing posts with label Four Roses. Show all posts

October 4, 2016

Tasting Three Four Roses Single Barrels, NASA Liquors and Elliot's Select Limited Release

Dear faithful beasties,

Sorry for the lack of new reviews over the past few weeks! We've been up to our necks getting Beast Masters Club off the ground. (Thanks to those who've signed up so far!!). We had our first event on Friday with Joe Beatrice of Barrell Bourbon and it was awesome. The podcast of our interview will be up in the next couple of days, and our first private barrel pick is already on sale.

Back to the Grind

Anyway, last night we got the chance to catch up on some bottle tasting, and the first thing we wanted to dive into were some of the new Four Roses single barrels. Our friends at NASA Liquors just released two barrels, and they always pick great stuff. Plus, we had a bottle of the 2016 Limited Release Single Barrel, the first one chosen by new Master Distiller Brent Elliot on hand. So why not a three-way? (Is there ever a good answer to that question?)

NASA Liquors Four Roses Private Barrel 36-2D
8-Years, 9-Months Old OBSQ 57.7%

Nose: This one comes at you with a fairly punchy nose, mostly honey, mint, and some citrus (grapefruit?). Coming back in you get a nice dose of leather. There's not a ton going on here with the nose but it's nice and composed.

Palate: Fairly thin mouthfeel with lots more mint coming through on the tongue.

Finish: Pretty hot finish, like pink peppercorns and spirit heat.

Review: This is a nice bourbon. It's super drinkable for over 115 proof! The spice and mint flavors are way out front. It lacks the rich vanilla, molasses, char, cocoa that we'd look for in a top-level Four Roses bourbon, but all-in-all we'd definitely buy more of this if we found it on the shelf.

"Elliott's Select" 2016 Limited Edition Single Barrel
14 Years Old OESK Barrel 47-16 Warehouse QN 53.1%

Nose: There's something strange about the nose on this one. You can tell it's got some age on it, and that's good. The wood is there and it's nicely integrated into the spirit. But there's a weird kind of funk to the nose here that's just not doing it for us. It's kind of meaty, but not the good bbq meaty that we like, more of a chunky meaty. Ok that made no sense. It's hard to explain.

Palate: It's got a CrackerJacks thing going on with caramel, popcorn, and nuts.

Finish: It goes pretty sour and wood heavy on the finish. Not really an enjoyable aftertaste on this guy.

Review: Not a bad whiskey per se, but there's just some weird stuff here. It goes from meaty to sour. There's something nice in between with some richness and wood, but it doesn't carry through to the end. While all of the limited release Four Roses bottles have been pretty good in the last few years, this one isn't a standout.

NASA Liquors Four Roses Private Barrel 1-2M
9-Years, 6-Months Old OBSV Warehouse JE 59.7%

Nose: This one's hitting all the right notes: rich, woody, char, mint, spice, a really nice complex nose going on here.

Palate: Fuller on the mouth than the other two and packing a brilliant punch of good spirit warmth, spice, sweetness, and nuts. Hersey's chocolate with almonds.

Finish: For the highest proof bottle so far, this one finishes up beautifully. It has less heat than the first bottle, and way more richness and length in the finish than the 4RLE.

Review: This is the great thing about private barrels, sometimes you just get a gem. This one is definitely that. Granted, we're big fans of the OBSV recipe with its spicy high-rye mashbill and its creamy and fruity yeast, so some of this may be personal preference. But this one drinks like a dream. At almost 120 proof, with big bold flavors, this is a beast of the highest caliber.

Thanks again for the patience over the last month. We've really been putting a ton of work into Beast Masters Club and we hope that you all join and listen as we explore whiskey with some of the brightest minds in the game. But we are also committed to continuing to write the reviews that brought you to this site in the first place. Keep in touch, and let us know what you'd like to read about!

Cheers/SB

December 14, 2015

Four Roses Limited Edition Small Batch 2015

Our most requested review for this bourbon season is the new Four Roses Limited Edition Small Batch. Loyal readers know that we're absolutely gaga for these annual releases. Last year's 2014 batch was not quite as amazing as 2013's 125th Anniversary bottle. And the 2012 edition is still in our lifetime top ten bourbons. The 2010 is pretty special in its own right.

The key to the success of these releases seems to be the inclusion of the old stocks of 15+ year old barrels. The first ingredient in 2012 was a 17-year OBSV (if you're not familiar with Four Roses' ten recipes, see our tasting of all 10). The first ingredient in the 2013 was presumably the same OBSV but one year older at 18 years. The 2014 did not include any 15+ year casks and perhaps that's why it didn't shine quite so much as the other two.

With Jim Rutledge retiring this year, this is his last limited edition release, so we have very high expectations. The rumors were that he was saving some final remaining stocks of old barrels especially for this bottling. Sure enough, as we excitedly unwrapped our fall score - our one bottle of SmB15, and turned it over, we were greeted with a very promising list of vintages!

Wow, 16, 15, and 14-year barrels! That is pretty damn exciting. The juice looks glorious as always with a deep color like halfway between iced tea and fruit punch (remember, try to ignore the color of single malts unless they specifically "uncoloured", whereas with bourbon they're not allowed to add coloring so enjoy!!).

Tasting Notes

Nose: Yowza, that is *just* what we're looking for. It's like bread pudding with copious buttermilk frosting. All kinds of char in here. Big baking spices, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, cocoa, cloves, little licorice/anise notes, brown sugar. Finally some big fresh herbs - taragon? sage? something along those lines. The nose is a total 10!

Palate: Nice even palate moving more in the char and bbq smoke direction. It's bold and assertive for sure. You know what? We're going to do the unthinkable and add three eyedropper drops of water to this one. Wow that's nice.

Finish: There's a tiny bitterness in the finish that wasn't there in the '12 and '13. But overall we're looking at a top class whiskey here. Deep and rich and smooth, massive flavor, nice long finish for a bourbon. With the drop of water it is even a little better and the bitterness fades back.

For reference, the second glass is even better than the first. Really lovely drinker here, just the perfect special occasion glass for the holidays!

Cheers/SB

August 7, 2015

Four Roses Private Barrels Part 3: Bourbon Crusaders

For the finale of our Four Roses private barrel selection week, we've got an interesting pick from the "Bourbon Crusaders" an anonymous collective of whiskey enthusiasts hailing from Kentucky, who seem to have some deep connections to the local distilleries. Does this insider knowledge allow them to list "and Jim Rutledge" (Four Roses recently retired Master Distiller) on their label? Does it score them one of the older barrels in the private barrel program at just shy of twelve years? We don't know, but it's a compelling label to be sure.

Nose: Juicy Fruit gum. It's definitely not spicy, but it's not mellow either. There's a lot of upfront sweet fruity fruit punch type stuff going on here. It's sugary in its sweetness, dried apricots floating in honey.

Palate: Four Roses really makes some highly drinkable bourbon, you can't argue with that. Three bottles all up over 107 proof and all with little burn neat. With water some more vegetal / herbal things come out like fresh thyme and oregano, and some anise / black licorice. Middle-weight mouthfeel and well rounded approachable palate.

Finish: Really nice balance of honey, mint, and spice on the finish here.

Review

What an enjoyable week tasting these awesome Four Roses private barrels. Once again each barrel was so unique and showcased completely different aspects of what makes Four Roses such a diverse and deep brand. The Crusaders bottle was a very nice balance between fruit and spice, bold and distinctive, yet not at all overpowering and going down so easily at cask strength.

Who are these crusaders & why does bourbon need to be crusaded for? We may never know, but they have good snouts for bourbon that's for sure.

Have you tried any local Four Roses barrel picks? Where were they from and how were they? There are so many of these awesome bottles floating around, please share your notes in the comments!

Cheers/SB

August 5, 2015

Four Roses Private Barrels Part Two

Moving on in our Four Roses private barrel goodness, today we've got this beauty.

Wine on 59 - Four Roses Barrel HW 32-4 D
OBSF Barreled on July 30, 2003 Bottled on June 16th, 2014

Nose: "Red Hots candies swimming in a mint julep!" Well this is the opposite of the last bottle. A very sharp nose with a lot of cinnamon - like cracking a handful of cinnamon sticks in half at once. Then there's the frontal spiciness, not the deep chipotle type of spicy, but an upfront dry cayenne pepper spicy. The mint tastes deeply muddled and hides behind all the sweet and spice. (with water) With water the mint comes to the fore, and some lovely richness and char make an appearance.

Palate: For such a bold nose, we get a very drinkable palate which is remarkably smooth for the monster proof on this one. Another dangerous drinker here. (with water) We liked what water did to the nose so much that we paid the most attention with about a teaspoon of water in a one ounce glass. There's more mint and a nice molasses bbq sauce thing going on on the tongue.

Finish: Lovely finish here, again just wicked smooth watered down to maybe 110 proof and warm leaving more baking spices (cinnamon, brown sugar, fluffy eggs & flour) some nice spicy heat and staying solidly minty.

Review

We definitely went back for another pour of this one, adding a little dollop of water right out of the gate, and letting the glass open up in the water and air while we sliced up a fresh juicy summer peach to accompany it. (Peaches and bourbon go amazingly well together if you haven't tried this!) It's a great whiskey balancing spice and heat and smoothness. This is a mighty enjoyable bottle, a very pleasant surprise coming from a local store with great taste in barrels. Nice job.

On Friday we conclude our 4R Private Barrel serious with the mysterious "Bourbon Crusaders" pick.

Cheers/SB

August 3, 2015

War of the Roses - Private Barrel Edition!

You're like totally uncool if you don't have your own barrel of whiskey these days. All the hipsters in Billyburg have their whiskey barrels strapped to their backs as they ride around trying not to get their enormous beards stuck in the spokes of their fixie bikes.

We've been tooting our own horn on our stellar barrel of Smooth Ambler all week. We're sure you're ready to puke if you have to read one more review of it. That's ok, we're done. But since private barrels are just so the rage right now, we're going to bust out some of our friends' private barrels and have a taste of those. As you know, we're big nuts for Four Roses, so this week we present...

War of the Roses Part Three, The Private Barrels

If you read our second War of the Roses, we explained that Four Roses creates ten distinct recipes that they blend together to produce their small batch bourbons. Half the recipes, labelled "OB", are "high rye" with 60% corn, 35% rye, 5% malted barley. The other half are "high corn" "OE" barrels with 75% corn, 20% rye, 5% malted barley. In theory the high corn "OE" barrels should be sweeter and mellower, and the high rye "OB" barrels should be spicier. The two mashbills become ten different recipes because of the five different types of yeast they use at Four Roses, "F, K, O, Q, and V". These all have different characteristics from fruity to minty to herbal to creamy.

Choosing a Four Roses barrel seems like it's all kinds of fun since you can get familiar with these different recipes, and then taste several examples of that specific recipe across different barrels until you find your favorite. The Four Roses barrel program is prolific, and so you can find a lot of these private barrel picks around the country. When you do it's hard to go wrong picking one up. They're cask strength, come in at a pretty reasonable ~$60 price point, and are usually very high quality. Pick them up while you can before this whole thing goes crazy too!

The three barrel picks we're tasting this week come from:

Nasa Liquors, who recently treated us to an awesome SAOS choice, bottled a 10 year 2 month OESF at 55.5%. Wine on 59, a local New York State store that's had a huge run of great barrels, chose an 10 year 11 month OBSF, coming in at a chest-hairy 61.4%. And finally the mysterious and anonymous "Bourbon Crusaders" (with a little help from Four Roses Master Distiller Jim Rutledge) who come to the table with a promising 11 year 9 month OESK barrel 54.3%.

Without further ado, our first bottle...

Nose: Wow this is an extremely mellow nose for 111 proof hooch. You can really put your nose into the glass and there's only the tiniest bit of burn. If you've ever had Mario Batali's olive oil gelato, this is pretty close. It's super creamy and vegetal with thick sweet milkiness dominating and little pops of mint, rosemary, and sour apples hiding around the corners.

Palate: The palate remains incredibly smooth and moves in a more citrus direction, very much like lemon sorbet. Adding some water removes even the small amount of burn that might have been there originally.

Finish: Really this bottle is pure smoothness. Dangerously so. It's definitely not a spice or vanilla monster like some of the high rye bottles we love, but it gets you in a completely different direction. You could drink a whole glass of this neat, and the only way you'd know it was a cask strength bourbon would be from the warmth that comes up from your chest a minute after you finish the glass.

Review: Be careful drinking this one because it might be easy to go through a few glasses and end up on your ass without knowing what you're doing. It's not a flavor bomb but it's very delicate and well put together. Think of this as sort of like the white wine drinker's bourbon. Very smooth, light bodied and sweet with some nice little pops of fruit and herbals. Nice job as usual Nasa!

Tune in Wednesday for bottle #2! Cheers/SB

May 26, 2015

Memorial Day in Massachusetts - Gordon's Four Roses & Pretty Things FlowerLand IPA

Up in the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains this weekend it's beautiful but chilly, with a cold wind coming from the west. We figured a hearty boilermaker would do just the trick, so we're pairing a nice cask strength bourbon with a rich, hoppy, and sweet IPA beer back. It's a safe bet we won't be feeling that chill for long!

Pretty Things is a boutique project run by Dann, Martha, and Seth. They contract with Buzzards Bay Brewery in Westport, MA to make small runs of original recipes and release one-time only runs of very rich and special full-flavored beers. FlowerLand "Overgrown" IPA is no exception. It's made from Apollo, Southern Cross, Chinook, and Rakau hops. It's a double IPA style coming in at 8.5%.

Gordon's Wine & Spirits is one of the best whiskey stores in the Boston area. They have a mighty malt selection, a formidable stash of American whiskey, and both Joe and Nicholas really know their stuff when it comes to the brown liquors. When we saw they had a private barrel of Four Roses, not to mention a cask strength 11 year, we grabbed one no questions asked.

And now, at 6:30 on Saturday of a long weekend, as a nice big piece of salmon marinates in olive oil and fresh dill, and the charcoal starts its long road from black to grey, we're ready for some serious mountain fresh air happy hour.

First the bourbon:

Joe & company picked a winner with this barrel. It's an OESO - a high corn mash bill, with the "O" yeast which is supposed to taste of red berries. The sweetness comes through on the nose right off the bat. The palate is very rich with honey and lemons, maybe not berries as much as honeydew melon and butterscotch candies. It's just DANGEROUSLY drinkable with a very smooth finish (almost 100% honey) and then spirit warmth coming up from the sides of the throat to tickle the soft palate. At 57%, this is a slippery slope for sure.

And now for the chaser:

The FlowerLand is a rich and powerful one-two punch with the bourbon. We're not experts when it comes to beers, but can tell you that this one is something to write home about. It's got an herbal brown-sugar maltiness that cuts across the hops for a sweet, but not overly sweet - hoppy but not bitter, round and robust beer. We're very sensitive to sweet beers (in a negative way) and this one is pretty sweet, but it's got a whole lot of hops and malt to balance it out so it's not at all cloying.

Budda-bing, budda-bang, this night is really shaping up nicely!

Cheers/SB

November 10, 2014

Revenge of the Roses Part 5! - Battle of the Limited Edition Small Batch

Ok folks here it is... The big finale.

Four Roses Limited Edition Small Batch 2012 & 2013 both won Whisky Advocate's American Whiskey of the Year. This sent the brand's annual Limited Edition releases skyrocketing into Pappy Van Winkle stature in terms of reputation and, sadly, availability. Our last War of the Roses put these beauties to the test and we found out that it was by no means just hype. The 2012 was one of the best bourbons we'd ever tasted, and the 2013 was right up there if maybe a half a step behind.

This year's LE Small Batch is made from a younger mix of 9, 11, 12, and 13 year old barrels rather than the previous years which had 17 and 18 year bourbons in the mix. Would it measure up to the glory of 2012 and 2013? We got to taste this year's release and also were lucky enough to try a 2010 Small Batch! Spoiler, all four of these are tremendously good whiskeys. Remarkable!

Four Roses Limited Edition Small Batch 2010

Wow, we were excited when our guest judge Ari reached into his bag and pulled out an unopened bottle of this bad boy! "When you told me you were tasting all the Small Batches, I noticed I had this one lying around and this seemed like the perfect excuse to pop it open!" said Ari. Indeed!

Nose: Spice, vanilla, tangerine/orange, light and bright, minty. Very lively and bright nose.
Palate: This one is so alive. Quite vibrant and lovely with a little of the spice and vanilla layered under fruity, citrusy, light and bright.

Result: Great bourbon! Maybe not quite as earth-shattering as the 2012 & 2013, but it's almost like this is the first novel in a great series and it's cool to watch it grow into your favorite character. We'd drink this stuff all day!

Four Roses Limited Edition Small Batch 2012

Through all our new trials, recipes, tastes, and comparisons, this little bad boy reigns supreme. We're doling it out sip by sip because we probably will never find one again. Not only do we love drinking it, but we love comparing it to the new releases every year, so we may really have to bogart the last few inches of this one! It's just so deep and rich, with that old rye spice turning into leather and brown butter. Just an amazing joyful bourbon. One for the ages!

125th Anniversary Small Batch 2013

Also an unbelievable gem, our thoughts haven't changed on this one either. Actually one of our judges changed her mind and rated the 125th Anniversary higher than the 2012 this time around. That just goes to show how close they are. This one has a little more spice and balls to it than the '12 which is a tiny bit more on the warm rich and mellow side.

Four Roses Limited Edition Small Batch 2014

And the moment you've all been waiting for... This year's LE Small Batch!

Nose: The great thing about all the small batches is that they bring together all the wonderful elements of the different mashbills and recipes. The mint is there along with the big rich notes of vanilla, molasses, and brown butter. The creaminess is there, along with the fruity/citrus quality we found in some of the yeasts. The proportions are perfect, giving the light minty fruity brightness a highlight over the rich base of spice, leather, and warmth.

Results: We can tell that this one is from younger stock. It doesn't *quite* have that old rye goodness of the '12 and '13. It's still a candidate for the best bourbon of the year and we'd drink it ALL DAY! The younger character does have some shining bright spots which is the lively minty spiciness that's way out front on this bottle. It's just a wonderful thing and tasting it is a real celebration.

That's All Folks!

Well thanks for sticking with us on another ridiculous Four Roses adventure! We had a blast and hope that you enjoyed reading and are out there tracking down some delicious Four Roses of your own and sharing it with friends. The holidays are coming up, so let us know if there are any whiskies you'd like us to review for your Christmas/Chanukah/Festivus gift shopping!
Cheers/SB

November 9, 2014

Revenge of the Roses Part 4! - Battle of the Limited Edition Single Barrels!

Ok, now we're really into it. This week we've been through all ten of the Four Roses recipes. We've explored the different mashbills. We powered through five different yeasts with each mashbill and figured out the distinctive qualities of all the different beasts that make Four Roses such a complex brand. Now it's time to put our training to the test and dive into four years worth of hand selected Limited Edition Single Barrels. We're going to compare our notes on each recipe with the single barrel expression and see if our theories (and taste buds) can keep up.

Four Roses 2011 Limited Edition Single Barrel
(58.9%, 12-Years, OBSQ)

In Theory: The 2011 Single Barrel is an OBSQ. So as a "B" mashbill it should be hot and spicy, and with the "Q" yeast, it should be a blend of fruitiness and spiciness.

Notes: Well it's definitely got the heat. This one is kind of just a burner. Is the fruit there? Guess so, but honestly this one is just not our favorite. It's come in last place in every 4R tasting we've done, so we're calling this just kind of an "off" barrel.

Four Roses 2012 Limited Edition Single Barrel
(51.9%, 12 Years, OESK)

In Theory: The 2012 is an "E" so it should be more mellow and soft. The "K" yeast we had tagged as creamy and lightly fruity.

Notes: Yes, we definitely get the orange creamsicle thing going on here! But also this one has a lot more bite than the other barrel sample we tried. It's a lot better than the 2011, but still not really hitting that awesome rich Four Roses signature that we're looking for. The finish particularly is right in that creamy citrus pocket. Kind of like those orange Tic-Tacs...

Four Roses 2013 Limited Edition Single Barrel
(59.7%, 13 Years, OBSK)

In Theory: We had this pegged as straightforward spicy bourbon with a little roundness and buttery base. It didn't make our top four choices of all the recipes.

Notes: It's a total knockout. By far the best of the Single Barrels. Totally different from the recipe sample. This just goes to show that careful barrel selection can be more important than even the ingredients and recipe that is used. The richness of this bottle surpasses both the others easily as well as all of the 10 samples we tried previously. But the richness and smoothness are matched with a powerful spice, leather, tobacco, and warmth. Really a beautiful bottle.

Four Roses 2014 Limited Edition Single Barrel
(56.5%, 11 Years, OESF)

In Theory: This was one of our favorite of the recipes. Mellow but still very spicy and rich.

Notes: It's lovely. A lot of mint really dominating the nose. Like nosing a mint julep! Some fruit, and a little spice. It's hot for an "E". There's definitely a richness to the 2013 that's missing here, but it's very fresh and minty and nice. We'd put it second to the 2013, but beating out the other two. If you love minty, fruity bourbon, this may be a favorite for you. It's actually pretty similar to the 2012, but this barrel shines a bit more.

On To The Big Boys

Alright, 14 Roses down, now we're on to the big boys! Tune in tomorrow for the big conclusion with four years of Limited Edition Small Batch!

November 8, 2014

Revenge of the Roses - Part 3!

Welcome to Revenge of the Roses Part 3! In the first two episodes we took down the Four Roses secret formula in terms of mashbills and yeasts. Today we're back to continue breaking down the different yeasts. Geeky investigation of the highest degree! Today we'll try all the "OE" - high-corn - varieties: OESF, OESK, OESO, OESQ, and OESV.

OESF (10 Years 6 Months, 56.6%)

Of the more mellow high-corn varieties, this is the spicy and bold one. Really nice! Holding the mellow and smooth quality of the corn against a really nice spicy minty kick.

OESK (10 Years 4 Months, 55.7%)

This one's very creamy and lightly fruity. Mellow tangerine cream!

OESO (11 Years, 56.0%)

Back to spicy here with some rich herbal goodness and some deep fruits but still a smooth rich backdrop.

OESQ (10 Years 1 Month, 59%)

This is way out front with sweet fruits. Citrus, pineapples, oranges, bananas, and stone and sweet.

OESV (10 Years, 57.2%)

All comes together here with both the spice and the sweet fruity citrus, cream, and rich wood...

Phew Again!

Yeah this has really been a lot of whiskey to taste. And we're just getting started!! As far as favorites go, the best of the "E" mashbill are the OESF and the OESV. Just awesome mellow but still bold flavors. Again, again, these are all cask strength samples and so they're pretty bold by definition. Anyway this has been a friggin crazy good time.

The Yeasts Explained

So across yesterday and today we tasted all ten different recipes. The mashbill difference is obvious. The "OB" high-rye mashbill is bold and spicy, kicking and hot. The "OE" high-corn mashbill is mellow and smooth, fruity and sweet.

The yeasts are a little more difficult to distinguish. Across the OE and OB mashbills we tried all five yeasts. Some had obvious characteristics. The "Q" yeast for example is obviously the most fruity, showing melons, stone fruits, and citrus across both tastings. The "F" seems to have the most mint to it, and stayed rich and spicy across both bottles. "K" produced a "creamy" taste both times although the two K bottles tasted very very different. "O" comes across with the most herbal / floral notes. And "V" was the most difficult to pin down, sort of a well-rounded taste combining spice and fruit.

Four Roses has a whole breakdown of the different yeasts here. Our experience was pretty similar although there were definitely some differences...

The Origin of the Yeasts

One of our guest judges, Ari Susskind broke down his theory of the origin of the yeasts. He's an absolute Four Roses nut and has been researching the various brands that were acquired along the way and finally came under the ownership of Four Roses. His theory is that each different yeast comes from a different original brand or distillery. This makes sense because a brand's yeast is sort of like its "secret sauce" and many master distiller's take extreme measures to preserve and protect the secrecy of their particular strain.

Ari's theory is that "F" yeast comes from the Fairfield Distillery in Nelson County, KY. "K" comes from Athertonville. "V" comes from Calvert in Louisville. The other two "O" and "Q" come from one of two places: Old Prentice Distillery or Cynthiana. Thanks Ari! If anyone out there has any thoughts on this, let us know. Honestly this is way over our heads in terms of the history of the brand, but we thought it was interesting.

Stay Tuned!

Ok so we're done with the ten recipes and hopefully we have some skills and knowledge when it comes to all the different variables that come together in a Four Roses bourbon! Now all we can do is to move on to the Jim Rutledge special selected Limited Edition bottles. Aw yeah, it's on baby! Tune in tomorrow!

November 7, 2014

Revenge of the Roses Part 2

Yesterday began our newest craziness, Revenge of the Roses! We broke down the two different mashbills that make up Four Roses' ten different recipes. Today we're zooming in a bit further into the insane whiskey geekery and digging into the five different yeasts that flavor these beasts.

Today we're going to look at five recipes, all with the high-rye "OB" mashbill, and with each different yeast: F, K, O, Q, and V.

OBSF (11 Years 8 Months, 59.1%)

Hot and cracking spice with big grassy mint and fresh farm spices like tarragon, basil, and honeysuckle.

OBSK (12 Years, 53.7%)

This one's kind of a straight spice kick with a laid back body and a base of sort of olive oil / butter base to it.

OBSO (10 Years 4 Months, 55.3%)

This is a doughy baking spice flavor with cinnamon, flour, brown butter, and some garden/floral stuff going on in the background.

OBSQ (10 Years 4 Months 58.8%)

Very nice and spicy with an overripe honeydew melon edge to it. Sweetness in the nose, moving to a nice bold spice in the palate and finish.

OBSV (11 Years 3 Months 54.2%)

Definitely the most mellow and rounded of the B-series. This one has just an edge of spice with a very earthy herbal character and moving into that creamy cake icing taste. Very smooth with the shortest finish of all the "B"s!

Phew

Ok that was a lot of tasting. So obviously the high-rye "B" mashbill bottles were all in the spicy and hot category. The OBSV was the most mellow, but still these were high flavor, high intensity, cracking in-your-face cask strength whiskies!

Favorites

It's tough to really call a favorite here. These are all sort of punchy, awesome, kicking, spicy beasts. They're all at cask strength which definitely doesn't hurt. We'll call out the OBSF, with its combination of mint and spice which was definitely compelling, and also the OBSQ which combed the spice and fruitiness to great effect.

Tune in tomorrow when we line up all the "OE" varieties and get to the bottom of all ten recipes!

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